Search
-
March 28, 202510 Self-Care Tips for Writers
Self-care is more than a long candlelit bath and chocolate—it’s prioritizing your mental, emotional, and physical wellbeing. As someone with anxiety and chronic depression, I’ve learned the hard ...
-
September 05, 2017Debut picture book author Carolyn Huizinga Mills on Montgomery, Atwood, Mistry & More
Who doesn't love a nice warm bath? Sally, the protagonist of Carolyn Huizinga Mills' The Little Boy Who Lived Down the Drain (Fitzhenry & Whiteside) certainly loves taking baths -- but as the title ...
-
August 30, 2017
Humour and Children’s Books
I don’t think I was raised in a particularly funny family. My dad was often described as being extremely intelligent, but I don’t think I ever heard someone call him funny.Growing up, I recognized ...
-
May 05, 2017An attempt to reclaim the selfie
I don’t hate writing. Except sometimes I get so sick of it that I need an antidote. My brain has a hard time shutting off so meditating rarely works and I’m not very sporty, plus this antidote needs ...
-
May 15, 2017
Monopoly on memory
Recently on Instagram, I saw a picture of Warszawa Centralna railway station and I was overcome by the smell and the sound the picture evoked. It smelled of damp concrete, earth, dirt and engine oil, ...
-
March 31, 2019Writer at Work: Criticism is Care
When I began the “Writer at Work” series for Open Book, I wanted to explore what it means for me, a poet and a writer, to be at “work.” As a woman of colour and an emerging writer, I have many ...
-
August 31, 2020How to Be Exceptionally Editable
When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...
-
January 22, 2021Claiming Space for Indigenous Languages in English Literature
English is the language of the colonizer. It came with the arrival of settlers to what many people call Turtle Island, or North America. It is a relatively new language to this land, and has only been ...
-
October 19, 2022Sid Sharp's Graphic Novel The Wolf Suit is a Gloriously Dark Modern Fairytale about Deceptive Appearances & Community Connection
We've all heard the term "wolf in sheep's clothing", but what about the opposite? Award winning Toronto artist and writer Sid Sharp's funny, deliciously dark, and gently thoughtful graphic novel The ...
-
July 20, 2023Read an Excerpt from When It All Syncs Up, Maya Ameyaw's Tale of a Dazzling Black Teen Ballerina
In Maya Ameyaw's new young adult novel, When It All Syncs Up (Annick Press), Aisha seems to have everything going for her. She has a coveted spot in an elite ballet academy, a relentless work ethic, ...
